Advance directives, AIDS, and mental health: TJ preventive law for the HIV-positive client.

Unfortunately, the possibility of future incapacity to engage in health care decision making remains one of the many potential legal problems faced by HIV-positive clients. Consequently, proactive legal planning, including the use of advance directives, is widely recognized as an important element in avoiding legal crisis for HIV-positive persons. The author suggests that, in light of the emotional and psychological difficulties that an HIV-positive client may face, considerations of psychological well-being ought to be explicitly recognized as one priority among many in legal planning. By integrating principles of therapeutic jurisprudence and preventive law, a lawyer can both protect an HIV-positive client's legal rights by planning for legal contingencies and enhance the client's psychological well-being by making emotional concerns one priority in that planning process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)